Crowfeather's Lament
by Fell's Apprentice
Summary: My attempt at getting into Crowfeather's headspace via poetry assignment.


**Crowfeather's Lament**

**Author's Note: **So, I know that I should be working on my "Thirty Seasons Later" story, but this was my latest assignment in my English Composition 102 class. We had to write a sonnet, and I wrote it about Crowfeather after Feathertail's death. I figured that because my next big project after "Thirty Seasons Later" was about Crowfeather, I should probably take the opportunity to get into his depressed little headspace. This is the rather cheesy result. I know, I'm not very good at poetry.

**Disclaimer: **The characters, events, places, and traditions referenced in the poem belong to Erin Hunter, not me. The extent of any profit gained from this poem would be a good grade and possibly some level of personal satisfaction.

I once said, "Don't make me save you again."

When I rescued you from a fall before.

You repeated, "Don't make me save you again."

When just yesturday you hit the rock floor.

Today I can still hear your silver sacrifice.

My body was trapped then, my soul is trapped now.

As you rescued me, my soul turned to ice.

Your death steals the joy you used to endow.

I took your name to remember you by.

Without you I'll be miserable at best.

Therefore, I wait 'til the day I can die.

You have been the best of me I attest.

You tell me that you patiently wait up there,

You won't have to wait long in my despair.

Context

The Characters: The two characters in this poem are a pair of cats from the book series _Warriors_ by Erin Hunter. The female is Feathertail, the male (and the one that "wrote" this poem) would be Crowpaw (feather).

The Setting: This would have been "written" by Crowfeather just after his Warrior Ceremony (more about that later), during _Dawn_.

The first stanza references two events during the book _Moonrise_, the first takes place (page 76) when as the group they are with is going through a mountain range, they pass over a stretch of particularly slippery terrain right next to a stream that created a waterfall as it went over a ledge a few more yards downstream. Feathertail slips, falls into the water and is nearly killed. Crowpaw then manages to pull her out, saying that she should be more careful and to not make him save her again in typical Crowpaw fashion, his worry coming out as feigned annoyance. The second event takes place a few weeks later. A cougar has trapped their group of six in a massive cave and has Crowpaw pinned in a crevice. Feathertail leaps off of a ledge and latches on to a stalactite hanging from the ceiling and dislodges it, the stalactite kills the cougar and Feathertail dies of trauma from the fall, repeating Crowpaw's words that she saved him once, and to not make her do it again. (page 271).

The second stanza refences Feathertail's "silver sacrifice" that is a reference to her fur color. As for the rest of it, Crowpaw was never a very happy character even before their brief relationship and after Feathertail's death, the only progress he makes on that front is to become far worse about it, developing a severe state of depression, albeit one he keeps very well hidden.

The third stanza spends a line discussing Crowpaw, now Crowfeather's, act of taking part of Feathertail's name to remember her by as an act of devotion. (Warrior Ceremony page 316) In their society, up til now, Crowfeather has been an apprentice (hence the "paw" designation), when an apprentice becomes a warrior, and therefore, a legal adult (think the transition from the legal status of an eighteen year old, to a twenty-one year old) , the last part of their name is changed. Crowfeather requested that the last part of his name be "feather" publicly stating that it was in honor of the one who didn't make it back. He spends his traditional all-night sentry post beside Feathertail's grave. The rest of it is more of Crowfeather expressing how lost he is without her.

The couplet (first line) discusses how it is implied that Feathertail's spirit has been visiting him in his dreams to tell him that she will be waiting for him to rejoin her at the end of his life. Crowfeather responds that in his emotional state, he doesn't think she will have to wait as long as she expected. Previous to his warrior ceremony and the "writing" of this poem, he joined ina rescue attempt to save a group of cats from another clan from having their "home base" destroyed by a human construction company using bulldozers, Crowfeather, in a stroke of recklessness, attempts to go straight for the driver of the bulldozer, two of his friends tackle him to the ground and the resulting conversation makes his actions look far too much like a genuine suicide attempt to dismiss the idea of Crowfeather being potentially suicidal.

Works Cited

Hunter, Erin. _Warriors: The New Prophecy: Dawn_. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006

Hunter, Erin. _Warriors: The New Prophecy: Moonrise_. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005


End file.
